, 1887-12-20
rALmAeE MAKING A SERMON.


The Noted Preachers Methods of Pre-
pairing IA Disoourse-A Crisis
l make most of my ermons walking
h floor. ! can always think better on
my feet. l very often dictate sermon to
a stenographcr, and after he has written
out his notes l read it over, and by that
time / have placed the substance of it
permanently in my memory. l can
think better standing before an audience
than / can in the privacy of my home;
but it would be n very unsafe thing, de
pending on the inspiration of the mo-
ment. A minister will not do so unless
he is thoroughly lazy. My own rule is
not to go into the pulpit or upon the
platform without enough ideas to occupy
the time usefully, whether l use those
ideas or not. No minister has n right to
so before a congregation u~nprepared,
especially in these days, when through
the newspapers and many other forms of
distribution of knowledge the audience
may happen to know as much as he
does.
My idea is that if a man sits in his
study and carefully writes out a theologi-
cal essay, it may do well for a review or
magazine, but it will not interest n con-
gregation; but no man can lay down q
rule for others. Many are ruined for life
so far as work is concerned by trying to
do as others do. Extemporaneousness of
speech is best for some, and n thorough
use of manuscript is decidedly best for
others. The temptation which almost
every minister has felt who has acquired
any facility in public u~tterance is to in
dolence. h ext-emporaneous faculty
has been so much talked about and ex-
tolled that n great many ministers nave
eorriE(aI oil thai 1T ,t,r,, 49,, -, .-.,.-A.
do things impromptu. Unless a man uses
his pen q good deal in the act of compost
ton he will Don lack terseness and COM
pactness of expression. / find that my
best days for work are Wednesdays and
Thursdays-equal distances from the
Sabbath, and the morning of each day
i am generally not Observable; but
1t Is difficult to make an iron rule
In these cities as TO when you will
be seen and when o will not be
seen. 1 think Brooklyn is a first rate
place for ministers. Thu people generally
allow a pastor in these regions to work in
his own way, and the congregations are
lenient and not unreasonable in their de-
mands.
1 began the ministry by writing out
my sermons with great caro-, and taking
every manuscript into the pulpit and con-
filming myself strictly to it. But coming
out Of n theological seminary with but
little preparation in the way of sermon
material, l found the preparation of two
sermons AND n lecture a week a complete
physical exhaustion, 30 l retracted from
that habit and used no notes at all. My
first experience in this new departure
was marked and unusual. 1t was in my
village church at Bellville, N. ]. Find
tn1 that I DNt1Gf atom tho orhotutfyo rr,or1y
of preparation / resolved on n certain
Sunday night to extemporize. The church
had ordinarily been lighted with lamps,
as there was nc gas in the village, but
the trustees had built a gas house in the
rear of the church, and the new mode of
lighting the edifice was to be tested the
very night / had decided to begin my ex-
temporaneous speaking. The church was
thronged with people who had come to
sec he new mode of lighting. / had
about ten minutes of my sermon in manu-
script and put 1t down on the Bible, in
tending when the manuscript gave out
to launch out op the great sea of ex-
temporaneousness. Although it was a
cool night it was n very hot one for me,
and the thermometer seemed to be about
up to 100 dogs. AT a very slow rate l
went on with my sermon making my
manuscript last as long as possible.
Coming within three or four sentences
of what l had written and in great trepida-
ton as to what would happen when I be-
gan to ~extemporize, suddenly the gas
lights lowered to half their intended size.
1 said within myself "Ohl if the gas
would only go Quit" and sure enough, as
I uttered the last word Of my manuscript
the lights were suddenly extinct. / said:
Brethren, it is impossible for US to pro-
coed. Receive the benediction." l went
home greatly relieved, feeling that 1 had
been rescued from a great crisis, bu,
fully resolved that I would break the
bondage Of manuscript and be a free man
In the pulpit, and my habit has been to
eItemporize ever since. God has made
three books for pulpit texts-the Book of
Revelation, the Book of Nature and the
Book Of Providence. All theUe books are
inspired. Christ took most OF his texts
from the BOO OF Nature-"Oonsider the
lilies" ''Behold the fowls of the air."
salt is good" "As a hen gathered her
chickens under her wing" 1 nave only
one idea in the sermon, and hat is help
fulness. Every man needs help, unless
he be a fool. In some part of his nature
or in some Of the circumstances of his
life he needs reinforcement. II men find
q practical h~elpfulness in the sermons,
prayers and singing of a church they Will
go there.-"J. A. Mex" in Brooklyn
Eagle.